The incubators known so far for premature and newborn patients provide a suitable microclimate in the interior space, which is closed off by a bed and a generally transparent hood belonging to it. The heat losses of the immature patient can thus be compensated and the patient in question can be treated under thermally neutral conditions. However, these prior-art incubators have the drawback that the access to the patient by the care personnel and by the parents is greatly limited because of the closed incubator hood.
Even though so-called open care devices, which have a radiant heater as well as a mattress heater, which is optionally present in order to maintain the small patient under thermally neutral conditions, are also known as an alternative to the incubators closed by means of a hood, the ambient humidity is nonphysiological for the immature prematurely born patient. This leads to very high transepidermal losses of water and to dehydration of the patient, which cannot be compensated by the only limited availability of infusions. The high radiant output necessary leads to high skin temperatures and to the steady risk for overheating or even burn. Nevertheless, open care devices are preferably used despite the said drawbacks because of the good access to the patient when a prematurely born patient is not yet stable physiologically and requires intensive care measures. Due to the irreconcilable conflict between the desired microclimate in the closed incubator with the greatly limited access to the patient, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the desired unhindered access to the patient in open care devices, which is, however, associated with heat supply from one side, where one cannot speak of a comfortable microclimate, attempts have already been made at resolving the conflict with a so-called hybrid device.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,935 B1, the top side of the hood of an incubator is raised by means of an elevator when needed, so that the open care can be performed with the radiant heater integrated in the top side of the hood. When the top side of the hood is lowered, the radiant heater is switched off, so that a usual incubator with convection function is made available when the top side of the hood is lowered.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,002 shows an open care unit with a bed, which has air outlet channels on three sides and is to generate a microclimate above the patient's bed. A hood with a radiant heater likewise offers the possibility of providing as an alternative a closed incubator.
These prior-art concepts shall embody two types of device in one, where there is a switch-over between the different operating states, so that the heat supply by warm air convection prevails in the closed incubator, and the heat supply by heat radiation by means of a radiant heater prevails in the open care device. One drawback of these prior-art concepts arises from the switch-over between the different paths of heat transfer, because there is no heat equilibrium for the patient during the switch-over time and beyond because the heat sources require a finite time to heat up. This means that the patient cools down during each switch-over and it may take more than an hour each time for the patient to reach his original body temperature again.